E.J. Holland, Jr.

Assistant Secretary for Administration (ASA)

E.J. (“Ned”) Holland, Jr., the Assistant Secretary for Administration, has the responsibility for the leadership and management of approximately 3,800 Federal employees and contractors, operating 12 separate budgets totaling almost $1.4B and providing the following services to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS): Human Resources; Diversity Management and Equal Employment Opportunity; Facilities Management and Policy; Information Technology; Business Transformation; Security and Strategic Information; and the HHS Program Support Center, which provides services on a competitive, fee-for-service basis to customers across the Federal government in financial management, administrative operations, strategic acquisitions, and occupational health.

Prior to joining the Department, Ned served as the Senior Vice President of Human Resources and Communications for Embarq Corporation, which was the fourth largest local telecommunications exchange carrier in the United States and the largest independent local provider, serving customers in 18 states and providing local, long distance, high-speed data and wireless services to residential and business customers. In this capacity, Ned managed employee and labor relations, talent management, compensation and benefits, employee experience, corporate security, internal and external communications, the Intranet and Multimedia Communications Center and the events management team. Embarq generated more than $6 billion in revenues annually and was included in the Fortune 500® list of America’s largest corporations.

Prior to Embarq, Ned has served as Vice President for Compensation, Benefits, Labor and Employee Relations for Sprint; Senior Vice President, Chief Administrative Officer and Corporate Secretary for Payless Cashways, Inc; and managing partner and co-chairman of the health law practice group of the Kansas City law firm of Spencer Fane Britt & Browne.

Throughout his career, Ned served with a variety of community and economic development organizations and several healthcare-related organizations, formerly acting in roles that included: Chairman of Truman Medical Center, the Kansas City, Missouri public hospital system; Chairman of the Kansas City Area Hospital Association; Member and finance committee chair of the Kansas Health Policy Authority; and Board member of Joint Commission Resources, the educational and consulting subsidiary of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations.

He is a graduate of Rockhurst College in Kansas City, Missouri, with a degree in Philosophy and holds a J.D. from Boston College Law School in Brighton, Massachusetts. Ned and his wife Bridget are the parents of two girls, and Ned has three other grown children and three grandchildren.